A Beauvais drinking Jug

Alongside elaborate decorated tablewares, the potteries of the Beauvaisis (the area round Beauvais in northern France) exported a range of plainer cups and jugs to England in the early 16th century. This jug, found in a pit in Fore Street, is typical of such wares: vessels with a fine white fabric, brilliant yellow or bright green glaze, and an applied badge on the body. Although examples of such pottery have been found on sites over much of England and Wales, they seem especially common in Devon, where more than 50 examples have been recorded. This probably reflects the importance of the north French trade to the Devon ports.